Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	death_n	die_v	sin_n	7,620	5	5.8816	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A28489	The theatre of the world in the which is discoursed at large the many miseries and frailties incident to mankinde in this mortall life : with a discourse of the excellency and dignity of mankinde, all illustrated and adorned with choice stories taken out of both Christian and heathen authors ... / being a work of that famous French writer, Peter Bovistau Launay, in three distinct books ; formerly translated into Spanish by Baltazar Peres del Castillo ; and now into English by Francis Farrer ...; Theatrum mundi. English	Boaistuau, Pierre, d. 1566.; Farrer, Francis.	1663 (1663)	Wing B3366; ESTC R14872	135,755	330

many with the sword poysons and pure fear some doe drown strangle and destroy themselves others are torne in peices with the teeth of cruel and savage Creatures some have been wounded and killed by pecking of birds and others have been meat for fishes and worms all this considered no man knows what end he shall make or by which of these means his dissolution shall be for when he deems himself most firm healthy and strong then he is most subject to fall and the saddest change is then nearest and then approaching towards him death the separation of soul and body which is most fearfull and of all things most terrible Therefore to work upon our apprehension what sight what spectacle is more worth our view and contemplation then to see a man cast upon his sick bed tormented with the pangs of death and afflicted to the height therewith what a horror what a change is there in all the joynts and parts of his body what an alteration there is the feet grow cold the face turnes yellow the eye-strings break and the eyes sink in the mouth and lips shrink up the tongue grows black the teeth chatter their sweat is more cold then ice proceeding from mortall griefs and are the most evident signes of the conquest of death over nature for when the soul comes to separate from its so dearly beloved companion when these two so antient friends and consorts comes to take the last farewell embraces there is no joynt or limbe of nature remaines whole or in order but they all break besides there is the furious assaults of the devills the wicked angels the fearfull visions and representations which they make to the soul and conscience of the poore dying man its certain there is no invention no false Machination which they do not attempt to beguile and deceive him striving sometimes to make us believe that we have lived well that we might assuredly believe and securely rest upon this false opinion and not strive but neglect by a hearty repentance to obtain the mercy of God other whiles he sets before us an infinite number of foule and wicked transgressions which we have committed in our life times to cause us to dispaire and distrust our Gods grace and loving-kindnesse that is the houre in which that cursed one Sathan bestirs himself imploys al his force sharpens his weapons burnishes his Armes Insinuates secret Ielousies against the power of God at that instant of time he strives to disturb the soul the health and the peace of men then he animates and strengthens himself more then ever for by how much the nearer he knows he is to the end of his Kingdome by so much the more he rageth and grows feirce for which cause he useth at that houre the same practice he did at the time our Saviour Jesus Christ was on the earth when he drew neare to any that were possessed with Devils they never gave greater scriks tormented or afflicted themselves more furiously then when he came neere them and that because they knew that the houre was come that they must be commanded out of their habitations and forced out of the persons where they abode for this cause the Royall Prophet David so much lamented the death of his son Absolom saying I would I had dyed for thee oh my son considering then he dyed full of wicked vices and inormous sins and rebellions with which he passed that his sad and last houre Those that have gone through that passage the gate of death have swallowed that thorne with the which they have been strangled What is become of their fantastical Pride What is become of all their Pomps and Trophies Where is their Riches Delights and Pastimes Where are the Majesties the Excellencies and Dignities What is become of all the Gallantries Courrage and Inventions of them They are vanished away like a shaddow as the Psalmist expresses They are perished like a Garment devoured with Mothes and the Prophet Esayas sayth Serpents Dragons and Wormes have eaten consumed and destroyed them Let us consider a little man lying in his grave contemplate with me his condition there whoever beheld a more fearfull spectacle or stinking Monster is there any thing more horrible unsavory and vile then man being dead and consuming in the earth see here the Majestie the Excellency the Dignity of this world layed in the dust behold here the delicious and nice feeder the esteemed and honored even to kissing the feet and hands how a suddain and unexpected change hath altered his condition and made it so abominable that it cannot be so closely masked decked and honored with stately Sepulchers of Marble or Porpherie with glorious Statues of Brasse Pirameds Epetaphs Mournings and other Honourable Pompes but it may manifestly appear that under all this there is a gastly stinking and deformed Corps which few would desire to see come neare or remember there is none of the greatest and mightiest Lords of the Earth of whom it may not be said what Solomon in his book of Wisdome writes What profit have they reaped of their Pride What fruit have they gathered or carried with them of their great riches all these things are passed like a shaddow like an Arrow shot at the marke like the smoak which is dispersed with the winde like the memory of a Guest in an Inn which hath stayed but one day there le ts now leave the miserable body in its grave le ts not molest that quiet repose it hath for a short time in that little caverne of earth where it lyeth as in a bed of Down But now here follows the ultimate and most dangerous tryall and passage of this our humane Tragedie that which David so much dreaded that he prayed exceeding earnestly to God that he would not enter into judgment with his servant for at that instant that the soul departs from the body she must of necessity appear before the face of Almighty God in Judgment what fear what horror think you shall he carry with him that is overclouded with vice and wickedness what moment can be more frightfull what minute ought to be more feared contemplated and profoundly considered My members all tremble ther 's hardly a haire of my head but stands upright when I seriously Meditate thereof this is the Journey which the Prophet writes of that the Lord will make when he saith He will descend like lightning all hearts shall wax faint become foolish and melt away and all the world shall tremble with fear in that day their griefs troubles and afflictions shall exceed the paines of a woman in travell in this day the Lord will come full of wrath and anger to destroy the earth and roote out the wicked thereof the Sun shall be darkned and the Moon and Stars shall withdraw their Light his irefull fury shall break the hinges destroy the foundations of the earth le ts hearken also to the words of Saint Matthew in the language

do not certainly know whether they eat little or much at that banket but this is known that he that turned up least drank 58. cups and the most 92. Considering this and knowing the wrong that superfluity of Wine doth to Men not without cause did Plato say that in some measure it appeared that the Gods did send the Wine to mankind or rather create the Juyce of the Grape in the World for a chastisement and vengance upon Man for his sins for when they are once drowned in this sweet liquor they attempt all vice they fight and many times kill and destroy each other the which was contemplated by Cyneas the Embassador of the Great King Pyrrus the first day of his arrival in Aegypt when he saw the excessive Grandure of the Plants and great height of the Wines of that Country said very justly may such a mother deserve a severe punishment that produceth such a vitious Son as Wine is and the same consideration caused Anedrocides to prophecy to that Great Monarch Alexander that Wine was the bloud of the Earth and that he should be carefull to refrain from it the which he contradicting and being at several times distemperd with it he killed Clito his friend burnt the City of Percepolis and caused his best Physitian to be set upon a Stake these and otheir enormions uncomely excessive crimes did he commit in that condition which me thinks cannot but cause a loathing in the soul of every good Christian of the vice of drunkenness considering how it layeth him open to all wickednesses and to the commission of such horrid evills and afterwards causeth a sad heart to remember them and many tears to repent them These two vices of glottony and drunkenness did not begin to take root in our dayes but they made their entrance into the World at the beginning The desire to eat and tast of choice fruit was the cause of our Fore-father Adam and Eve their fall and the shutting us out of Paradise By the glotony of Herod that is after he had eaten and drunk liberally he made that promise by which St. John Baptist lost his head the rich Gutton for minding his Belly more then any thing else was condemned for it The Text saith he fared deliciously every day as he buried himself in delights not conside●ing the poor so was he afterwards drowned in torments and buried unpittied Noah being overcome with Wine discovered his nakedness to the derision of one of his Sons Lot in his Wine lyeth with both his Daughters and unknown what a stupidity doth it bring upon us even to the forgetting of our selves our condition and our nature Here you see plainly how Dame Nature hath bestowed her favours more to other Creatures then to us for they know to with-hold rule and put such bounds to their appetites that they seldom pass them alwayes satisfying themselves with what is necessary to maintain nature and preserve health for which cause they seldome are afflicted with thus many and great infirmities which do continually war against us and if in case any dolours or calamities do trouble or molest them nature hath endowed them with such a knowledge as to seek out peculiars and proper remedies for their diseases without any necessity of running to Doctors who many times instead of putting recipe put decipe changing r. for d. and for there rrecipe often we pay very dear and give our money freely to such as destroy us because their Medicines for the most part are mixtures composed rather to the decaying then the upholding of nature and are very dangerous the which other Creatures are free of because they have some understanding what is fittest for their cure as the Wild Pigions Jayes Black-Birds Partriges c. do purge their superfluities with Laurel-leaves the tame Pigions Turtles and Chickens with the hearb Pelitory Doggs and Cats when they find themselves much overcharged do cleanse by eating the Grass that 's watred with the morning dew the Red-Deer when he is wounded understands so much as to procure Dittany for his cure the Weesel when he intends to encounter with the Rat eats Rue by which he finds himself more strengthened and couragious The Wild Boares cure themselves with Ivy The Bears with Mandrake and the Eagles knowing with what difficulty and pain they lay their Eggs by reason of the straightness of their passage they seek out a stone called Tiles which the French and Spanish call the Eagles Stone by vertue of which they enlarge the passage and lay their Eggs with more ease which sort of Stone is made use of by many Ladyes in Italy to this day for their easie delivering Also there are many Creatures which may serve not onely for Doctors but Medicines There is a Bird called Colio which Aristole speaks of in his Book of Creatures that a Man that hath Jaundice looking upon him is presently healed and the Bird dyes The Swallows if in case as some times they do they find their young ones blind with the smoak of the Chimny wherein often they build their nests they search out for the Herb Celandine or Tetterwort by means of which they quickly recover their sight The Snakes and several other the like creeping things finding age and a dimness of sight to creep upon them to prevent it and also that they may renue both eat Fennil and remain as youthful and quick sighted as at the first the Pelican doth not only wound but many times dye of those hurts with which they peirce their breasts with their own heart bloud to cure their young ones being stung by malicious Serpents It is confessed on all hands that the Apothecary was taught by the Stork the use of Glisters for when he finds himself obstructed he thrusts into his fundament the Moss of Trees and somtimes Herbs and Grass Plutarch being elevated with admiration considering the great favours and gifts naturally is bestowed upon other Creatures more then upon Man doth undertake to affirm that the Animals have a knowledge of all the three parts of Physick for after he hath proved as I have said that they understand the greatest part of Simples and know how to use them for their own benefit Also saith he they observe the second part which is moderation in dyet for when they find themselves so satisfied that they grow too fat thereby then they eat more sparingly and sometimes fast Instance the Lyons and Wolves when they find that they increase overmuch in fat eat no flesh but sustain themselves for a convenient time onely by sleeping in their Caves and Dens till they are come to their former stint of flesh and agility of body For the third part of Medicine which is Chyrurgery it is held for a certain opinion that the Elephants have some knowledge and make some use thereof for they understand how to pluck out the Arrows Darts and Spears that are shot or thrown at them without benuming the wounded part or

the regions of Babilon from thence it flew to Greece and thence to Rome putrifying after such a manner the aire that one third part of the people did not escape where it came but to leave the antient Histories and examine what hath happened since their time and in our dayes that we who do hold our selves to be Christians may learn to understand our own frailty the great miseries to which we are subject with the scourges great afflictions which God layeth upon us and that God when his anger is kindled against our offences and extreame iniquities le ts fly the most cruell Darts and Arrowes of his justice against these Creatures not omitting any kind of evils afflictions and torments whereby to execute his wrath and vengeance what better or greater proofe can we have of this then that which we saw in the year 1628. in the French Army which at that time beseiged Naples that men dyed before they thought they had been stricken with death and this curse or Pestilence did not light upon the common souldiers alone but executed its fury against the most choice commanders that the Lords Lautree of Vandemon of Moloac of Laval of the Chatrinera Grandmont and many other Persons of great quality who I cannot call to mind without teares the very same thing happened to the English when they took Buloigne from the French that there arose such Pestilential disease amongst them in the Citty that the living were not sufficient to bury the dead for which cause the King of England could not find a Souldier in all his Country would go thither voluntarily but such as were prest forced thither as offenders for the more fresh men entered so many more dyed so that every corner of the streets was infected and corrupted with the stench of the dead Corpes which lay in every part of the City A year after that King Francis of France marryed with Donna Leonoca de Austria there reigned in Germany such a mortall Plague that all that were smitten therewith dyed within twenty four houres swetting a most contagious humor and a most horrid stinking matter and although this evil begin at the West end of the Empire yet afterwards it extended it selfe throughout all Germany like a sweeping net that will catch all as it goes along for before it pleased God to send a remedy there dyed so many thousands that many Provinces remained deserted and uninhabited for so great was the putrifaction of the aire that it left neither Creatures alive and they write that at the same time that the Pestilence reigned with the like fury it was predominant in England in so much that with the venemous strength thereof it did not only overcome destroy men but the Birds forsooke their Nests Eggs and young ones the beasts their dens and Caves the Snakes and Moles went together in squadrons and companies not being able to suffer the venemous infection that had entred even into the bowells of the earth in the year 1546. the last day of May in Stife a city in Province began a most cruell and Pestilential contagion which lasted nine moneths and there dyed great multitudes of people of all sexes and ages in so much that all their Churchyards were so fill'd with dead Corps that there was no roome to receive any more the greatest part of those that were infected the second day became frantick and cast themselves into wells or else from windowes to others it gave a flux of blood from the nose with violence like a running stream the stopping of which ending the life was all at once it arived to such a height of dissolution that women great with child cast forth untimely births at four moneths both they and their innocent babes dyed being found full of tokens and on one side black and blew like brused blood in conclusion the contagion was so great that father 's left their children and the women forsooke their husbands mony and riches could not yeeld remedy to save the owners thereof from dying of famine because it was hard to get a peice of bread or a cup of water for money and if in case they could procure food for sustenance the Plague was grown so violent that many were taken away with the meat in their mouthes the fury of the evil was so great that only looking upon one that was stricken the infection instantly cleave to the party viewing and he dyed so great was the contagion of the disease and the corruption of the aire of the City to what member of the body the venemous breath or vapour did come there arose great sweling carbuncles mortally wounding sores Oh what a horrible and lamentable thing it was to heare the sad storyes that a Physician tells one who was ordered by the Governours to heal the sick this contagion saith he was so sharp and perverse that it could not be stopped with blooding Physick medicines or any cordialls whatsoever but it cut down destroyed and killed all it took hold of in so much as he that was stricken therewith could expect nothing but death for which cause there were several that when they preceived themselves wounded with this mortal infection they sowed themselves up in their winding sheetes there thou mightest see ten thousand lye after that manner expecting their last hour that forced divorce O sad parting of those two so loving consorts the Soul and Body all which he affirmed to have seen often done by many Persons of all degrees I my selfe in the year 1648. being in Spain where many hundred thousands dyed that year in several Provinces but living in the City of Sevill there breake out about March a fearfull contagion or Plague where I was visited therewith to omit the relation of every particular sad spectacle I saw dayly I shall only hint upon the principal passages by which ye may judge the rest there was every morning to be seen not a street without many dead Corps in it cast out not a house uninfected so that the most retyred Carthusian Fryers which came neer none dyed thereof the Birds dyed in the cages not for want of food but of the infection in one Hospital I was told by one that helped to bury the dead there that they all judged there dyed in one night four thousand persons it raged so much and carried away so many people that all their burying places being filled they were forced to load continually dead Corps in Carts and bury them in the common fields where they had four several burying places on each side of the City one afterwards I had occasion often to take particular notice of one of them where some of our English were buryed it was neer alone Church in the fields called St. Sebastiam over the door whereof I have many times read in Spanish but in large legible Characters without the bounds of this Church lieth buryed in fifteen graves forty and three thousand many judged that in above